Gorlan
GM Class
Dev
The best way to achieve balance is to remove everything from the scale%\0\%
Posts: 152
Leagues Played: Club League, Falnorian
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Post by Gorlan on Dec 11, 2013 11:28:24 GMT -8
Alright, firstly, I'd like to (and I'm sure everybody else would) thank Chris for taking the time to write that. I agree that statistically, backstories level the playing field quite a bit. Descendants may mess this up, but as someone who has put quite a bit of time into training children etc. It is hard, and has a lot of bad repercussions, as Chris stated. Also, now that timejumps are only going to be 1 sentence long, this means that the amount of "training" you can do would be limited severely. While it may be considered OP to create a sort of information vacuum, where certain players are just keeping all the plot within their families and apprentices, I personally, would rather have at least some people with information, as opposed to starting from scratch every year. On the subject of backstories. I think that it would be important to have disadvantages for every single one. Nobody is perfect, and the more powerful you are in one area, the weaker you tend to be in another. So, I'm going to suggest the creation of two new charts, and put it to the GM class to help build. A character disadvantages chart which might work similar to the insanity chart, in the sense that there are several categories for each type of backstory. This would be a way to add related flaws to everyone's backstory. Particularly for the backstories that do not have a clear flaw to them. Then, also, a chart that would be purely flavor. This would be optional to roll on, and it would be completely up to the player (if they were to want some sort of way to start their character). Anyways, there's my two cents.
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Post by ElfChild on Dec 11, 2013 15:20:23 GMT -8
I think the issue, even if GM class does help build said charts, is that ultimately it would be another set of things Chris and Spencer have to keep track of. I am totally in favor of a player-made flavor chart that the GMs never have to worry about to give people seeds to improve roleplay. I don't think we need to be making things more complicated for the GMs to remember though, when that was (I believe?) in part why not everyone gets backstories this year in the first place. The issue I see with creating a separate chart for negative stuff is that it takes away the ability of the GM to be able to easily associate a disadvantage with an advantage the way they can with the backstories that inhabit the chart right now.
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Post by ablacklama on Dec 11, 2013 17:43:50 GMT -8
Chris, I agree with 90% of what you said. I would like to point out however that although a player who is weak at fighting can get a backstory to that helps even him out with the rest, he could just as well get a backstory the reduces his ability to fight. Or on the other hand a good fighter could get a backstory that just makes him better at fighting. I like the disadvantage and advantage thing but i don't think it should be two separate charts. And i think we should still make people have to roll to get them so that it doesn't get complicated for the GM's
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ZackAttack
GM Class
Zack
Do you like my hat?
Posts: 72
Leagues Played: Battle League, Character League, Club League, Adult League, Crestfall, Falnorian, Life, Teriock
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Post by ZackAttack on Dec 11, 2013 20:45:34 GMT -8
So what we need to do is work out some way to reduce the complexity of backstories when it comes to GM involvement, but still maintain the fun and enrichment that they add to the game. Yes, I know I'm being super obvious. But right now we are kind of saying the same stuff over and over (I'm guilty of this too), like "yes, but it sucks for the players" and then "yes, but it sucks for the GMs", and continuing like that; maybe we should turn to discussing possible compromises that will create the greatest overall level of happiness?
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Post by gamemasterchris on Dec 11, 2013 23:20:03 GMT -8
I had been thinking the same thing. If all of you want to generate a backstory chart for club and we can approve it for use, I would love that. I suggest that what you do is a two level system. The first roll is all flavor and minor trade craft bonuses etc. (you can use my "create your own backstory chart" from the adult league book- it's already perfectly designed for this). Then, there is a chance you roll on the second chart which has actual abilities (as long as it follows these guidelines it should be fine "Keyword: advantage, disadvantage" then it is learnable for us or at least something we can lookup). Verifiability is a big one this season. There has been way too much "oh I forgot... I don't have Giant Strength and I lost my warded sword two months ago... Oops, sorry." We need to bay able to verify that the abilities on the field are legit so thing a can be fair. If people would like me to create a new version of a chart like this, I might be able to over winter break, but if I do, you will have to be okay with what I come up with. I think you would have fun if everyone in GM class sent in 3 back stories (like we did with assignments) and then they just got compiled and I could edit it. What do you think?
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Post by Celebfealor on Dec 11, 2013 23:28:54 GMT -8
I would be down with that. And I like the idea of GM class creating the basis for the chart, because it gives everybody more practice and hopefully it would be fun for said people as well. And then you also don't have to do as much work. Because brainstorming charts all on one's own takes forever.
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Nick
Man at Arms
Nick
You know you?re in love when you can?t fall asleep because reality is finally better than dreams.%\0
Posts: 126
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Post by Nick on Dec 12, 2013 11:29:21 GMT -8
Seconded. And less work for you, which is good. You already do so much. Though maybe more than three, closer to five? Just thinking about numbers (if we're shooting for 100).
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Gorlan
GM Class
Dev
The best way to achieve balance is to remove everything from the scale%\0\%
Posts: 152
Leagues Played: Club League, Falnorian
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Post by Gorlan on Dec 12, 2013 20:26:09 GMT -8
I would say closer to ten or so. More practice, and there will undoubtedly be repeats.
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Karen
GM Class
Queen of the Rainbow Light
A non-Junior League character.
Posts: 101
Leagues Played: Club League, Adult League, Falnorian, Life
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Post by Karen on Dec 12, 2013 20:28:34 GMT -8
Dev, ust make as many as you want. Then people can choose their favorites to include.
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ZackAttack
GM Class
Zack
Do you like my hat?
Posts: 72
Leagues Played: Battle League, Character League, Club League, Adult League, Crestfall, Falnorian, Life, Teriock
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Post by ZackAttack on Dec 12, 2013 23:02:31 GMT -8
I would put a cap of some sort (from 5-8) of how many backstories to send in per person. Obviously they wouldn't all be used, so Chris could root out the ones that don't work well in his game world or are effective repeats. The cap is so he doesn't have to go through too many; he sacrifices so much time for us as is and we don't want to bog him down with too much stuff.
On another note, I want to say that I'm pleased that we are working this out in a civilized manner and it will probably have good results.
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Post by gamemasterchris on Dec 13, 2013 18:26:27 GMT -8
If we are going to create a new backstory system with a two tiered level (the first is flavor and everyone gets it, and the second is rolled for and is abilities) then it needs to be compiled, reviewed, and sent to me in its entirety before the end of the month. I will then veto the back stories off the list that are not going for my game world. I am not going to receive dozens of emails with ideas and be fired to weed through them. This one is on you guys if you want it to happen.
Christopher
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Post by ElfChild on Dec 13, 2013 18:42:31 GMT -8
OK, I'm going to volunteer to collect and compile backstory ideas. That OK by everyone? Send me PMs or skype messages with ideas. I will put them into a big word document and then post said document back here once we have a sufficient number of ideas.
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Post by saffronolive on Aug 7, 2020 10:03:04 GMT -8
I am a player and an aspiring GM 6ish years later starting playing around the time the last post was made here. We used this new chart that Allison is talking about in the above post and it was an improvement but still had its problems. We have since redesigned the chart again to make the backstory chart more custom and bringing it up to the higher power level we now use. We also no longer have Custom backstory due to Chris lack of time and have Mod to make tweaks to your rolled backstory. This system also has problems as all, do but I am more trying to update this if anyone still uses it.
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